‘Blind' wine tasting event raises $4,000 for Florida Horse Park

As the date approached for Whinny, Wine and Nibbles, a fundraising wine-tasting event hosted by the Foundation for the Florida Horse Park, organizers began to get a little nervous.

By Kathy MancilCorresponden

As the date approached for Whinny, Wine and Nibbles, a fundraising wine-tasting event hosted by the Foundation for the Florida Horse Park, organizers began to get a little nervous.A few days before the Jan. 31 event at Artisinal Dish, only a couple of tickets had been sold, said Anne Favre, the foundation's executive director.At the last minute, however, she said, "We ended up with an over-sold situation."Because Artisinal Dish is an "intimate environment," she said, "our target was 60 people. We ended up with 80 or 85.""We had a good representation of community leaders as well as notable equestrian leaders at the event," she said. Those in attendance included famed horse trainer Pat Parelli and his wife, Linda; artistic equestrian performer Sylvia Zerbini; and several Olympic gold medalists, including Lauren Barwick and Damian Guthrie.Favre said the event raised about $4,000."What a great way to kick off our capital campaign to raise $3 million for a covered arena and new barns at the park," she noted."The event proved to be a terrific opportunity to engage Ocala's equestrian and community leaders by providing them with more information about our recent successes at the Florida Horse Park, including our revised lease, our robust calendar of events and our stronger financial position."Tickets were $75 and included food and wine samplings. A silent auction offered items such as tennis lessons, horse training lessons and a picnic basket with wine. One of the most popular items was a decorative garden medallion donated by Tack Shack of Ocala.Artisinal Dish co-owner Greg Mullen said he decided to "step out of the ordinary" and offer a wide variety of blended wines during the event. He paired about 20 different blended wines with appetizers ranging from "rich and heavy" dishes such as sirloin roast sliders, to "light and delicate" dishes featuring seafood, he said.Mullen noted the event was a "blind" wine tasting, so each wine bottle was wrapped in brown paper. "The idea was to get people outside of their comfort zones and experiment with trying different foods with different wines," he said."The response was great. Everybody seemed to have a great time," he added.Favre said the event was well received — "I think we'd definitely like to host it again."She noted she is especially excited about the foundation's next fundraiser, a live performance of "Sylvia Zerbini's Grande Liberte," scheduled for March 9 at BG Farms."We expect this to be one of the most exciting events of the season," said Favre.Tickets are $150 per person to that event, and reservations must be made by Friday. For more information, call 307-6699, ext. 8, or send an email to foundation@flhorsepark.com. Or visit the Florida Horse Park's Facebook page.